Grain-car door.



No. 697.557. Patented Apr. I5, |902,

G. S. SMITH.

GRAIN CAR 000B.

(Application led Nov. 30, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE S. SMITH, OF BURR, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO VILLTAM S.LOWER, OF BURR, NEBRASKA.

GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 697,557, dated April 15,1902. Application filed November 30, 1901. Serial No. 84,263. (Nomodel.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be itknown that I, GEORGE S. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Burr, in the coun ty of Otoe and State ofNebraska, haveinvented a new and useful Grain-Car Door, of which the following1 is aspecification.

The invention relates to improvements in grain-car doors.

The object of the present yinvention is to improve the construction ofgrain-car doors and to provide a simple and comparatively inexpensiveone adapted to be readily applied to a car and capable of enabling thegrain to be conveniently removed from around the door before the latteris opened to facilitate opening the same.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination andarrangement of part-s, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings,'Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a grain-carprovided with a door constructed in'accordauce with this invention andshown closed. Fig. 2 is an elevation, the door being opened andelevated. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View. Fig. 4 is a horizontalsectional view on the line 4 4 of Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a similar view onthe line 5 5 of Fig. l. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective Viewillustratin gthe construction of the ways.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding partsiu all thefigures of the drawings.

1 designates a grain-car door provided at one side with an eye 2,receivi'ng'a combined guide-rod and pint-le 3, which is mounted on thecar at one side of the door-opening and.

which permits the door to be swung inward horizontally and raisedvertically. The graindoor is provided at its free edge withreyes orcatches 3a and 3b, adapted, respectively, to engage hooks 3c and 3d,mounted on the car. The hook 3d is mounted on the car at the side of thedoor-opening oppositethat on which the vertical rod is placed, and it isengaged by the eye 3b. The eye 3b is located at the free edge of thedoor, andthe eye 3a is locatedl at the top of the door and is adapted toengage the hook 3, which is arranged at the top of the car Vat a pointremote from the door- Vward to receive the rods.

opening. The eye 3" engages the hook 31 when the door is closed, and theother hook 3c is adapted tosupport the door in an elevated position whenthe latter is swung open and raised.

The grain-door is provided atits bottom with an opening 4, which iscoveredwhen the car is loaded by a sliding supplement-al Vdoor orsection 5, mounted in suitable ways 6 at opposite sides of the door andadapted to be raised to uncover the bottom opening 4 to permit the grainor other material to fiow through the said opening and clear a spacearound the door to facilitate the opening of the same. The ways consistof L-shaped iianges formed integral with met-al bars or strips 7, whichare secured to the outer face of the door and which serve to reinforcethe same. The L-shaped flanges, which are disposed vertically, areprovided with upper and lower yarms 8 and 9, which are L-shaped, asclearly shown in Fig. 5. The upper arm 8 is secured to the outer face ofthe door beneath a horizontal cleat 10, and the lower arm extends upwardon the inner face of the door at opposite sides of the bottom opening.The sliding door or section 5 is provided at its bottom with suitablemetal-lined recesses 11, preferably arranged at opposite sides of thecenter and adapted to receive a crow-bar or other suitable tool forraising the supplemental door or section 5.

The cleat 10 extends across the lower portion of the door, and itsupports a pair of vertical rods 12, which pass through guides 13 of thesliding section or door 5 and engage sockets 14L at the bottom of thecar. The guides or eyes 13 are formed by a metal strap, which is securedto the outer face of the sliding door or section and which is bowed out-'Ilhe rods support the door and the supplemental door or seci tion 5 andprevent the sarnev from springing outward at the center. The rods areprovided at their upper ends with eyes for the reception of fasteningdevices -for securing them to the cleat.

The supplemental door is locked and held in its closed position by ahinged catch 14, depending from the cleat 10 and consisting of a plateprovided at the top with an eye 15 IOO to receive the pintle 16 andhaving inwardlyextending side fianges 17, forming upper and lowershoulders and interposed between the cleat and the upper edge of thesupplemental door when the latter is closed. The pintle 16 is preferablyin the form of a staple, which has its sides passed through thecleat,and the side flanges are formed integral with the plate. The catchis adapted to swing inward and outward, and it is held in its engagingposition by gravity.

It will be seen that the door is exceedingly simple and inexpensive inconstruction, that it possesses great strength and durability, and thatthe sliding supplemental dooror section is adapted to be readily openedto permit the material to escape and clear a space around the car-doorto facilitate opening the latter. It will also be apparent that thelocking-rods form guides for the sliding door or section and prevent thesame and the cardoor from springing outward at the center.

What I claim is- 1. The combination with a grain-car door provided atits bottom with an opening and having ways at opposite sides thereof, ofa sliding supplemental door arranged in the Ways and adapted to coverand uncover the opening, and the vertical rods mounted on the car-doorand adapted to detachably engage the bottom of a car and preventing thesaid door from springing outward; substantially as described.

2. The combination of agrain-cardoorhaving an opening atits bottom andprovided at opposite sides with ways, asupplemental door mounted in thesaid ways and provided with central guides, and the vertical rodssecured at their upper ends to the car-door and extending through thesaid guides and detachably vengaging the bottom of the car,substantially as described.

3. The combination of a car-door having an openingatits bottom, themetal strips secured to the door and provided with L-shaped iiangesforming vertical ways and having arms at their upper and lower ends,said arms being secured to the door, and a supplemental door mounted inthe ways and adapted to cover and uncover the said opening,substantially as described.

4. The combination of a door having a bottom opening and provided abovethe same with a horizontal cleat, the metal strips secured to thecar-door at opposite sides thereof and provided with vertical L-shapedflanges forming Ways and having upper and lower arms, the upper armbeing secured to the cleat and the lower arms being fastened to thecar-door at the back thereof, the supplemental door mpunted in the waysand provided with guides, and the vertical rods secured to the cleat andpassing through the guides of the supplemental door, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE S. SMITH.- Vitnesses:

M. W. LOWER, M. L. SMITH.

